laugh to fall apart
by realslytherinchick
Summary: AU. Oneshot. Lily is fond of laser tag, but when the Marauders find out she has no one to play with, they invite themselves along to a game.


It was just supposed to be a friendly game, but as usual, James Potter and competition were bosom friends, and Sirius Black had a knack for dramatics that, thankfully, hadn't translated over to their slightly-less-ridiculous mates, Remus and Peter. And there was poor Lily Evans, sandwiched in the middle of them all and cursing (silently, viciously) at her herself for opening her bloody big mouth.

It started innocently enough, just a conversation between mates about their respective plans for summer hols. With her being Muggle-born and Remus's forays into the Muggle world with his mum, they had a surprisingly similar itinerary—aside from his planned and as-of-yet unplanned visits with the Potters—and one particular interest in common.

"They've opened an arena near me," Lily said, standing across from Remus in the Prefect compartment, barreling toward London on the Hogwarts Express. "I'm hoping to get a few good matches in this summer, but I've no one to go with."

Remus held open the door for her and followed her out into the corridor. "There's no convincing your sister, then?"

"Can you imagine Petunia in one of those vests?" Lily asked, suppressed laughter coloring her voice. She adopted a high-pitched, nasally tone and a sneer. "I can't possibly wear _that_, it's filthy! And it doesn't match my shoes at _all_!"

"What d'you mean _other people_ have used this gun today? Did they sanitize it?"

"Tell me they used proper bleach for this, or else they can shove this gun straight up their—"

"Afternoon, Evans!" James strode down the corridor toward them, one hand ruffling his hair, the other stowed in his pocket. "Did they nominate you Head Girl yet?"

She slanted a look at him. "That's not how it works and you know it." Patting Remus's arm, she said, "I suppose you'll be wanting your partner in crime back now?"

"Ah, yes. That is" –he flashed a brilliant smile her way– "if you can spare him."

"If you insist on it, I suppose you can have him back. I still don't think this shared custody of him is even, mind you. You're clearly spending loads more time with him than I am."

James reached up to rumple an uncomplaining Remus's hair and tugged him under his arm. "What's that saying of yours? 'Cocks before…' No, that can't be right. Moony, what is it?"

Coloring, Remus mumbled, "Pricks before chicks."

"That's the one!" James cheered, mussing Remus's hair again. "Anyway, we'll be off now. Things to do, people to stuff into toilets, mischief to make. You know how it is."

Lily bit back a smile and nodded solemnly. "Of course, I understand. You'll bring him back in one piece, won't you?"

"No promises," said James with a roguish wink.

"_James Potter_."

"Yeah, yeah, all right, Mum. Marauder's honor."

James started to pull Remus away, but Remus resisted, turning instead to grin at Lily. "If you can't get Petunia to join you, I might fancy a match."

"Match of what?" asked James, sticking himself right into the conversation like he'd been there from the start of it. "Quidditch? Evans, do you play?"

The stupid git actually looked excited at the thought of her playing Quidditch, as if she'd somehow managed to hide her mad Quidditch skills from him for six years.

"No, James," she intoned, watching the light of over-enthusiastic hope in his eyes dim. "I play laser tag."

He blinked, once, slowly. "You play what now?"

"You know, laser tag. Where you shoot people with lasers and try to take over the enemy camp before they shoot you?"

James's mouth fell open and the first inkling that she'd done something wrong sunk in. Real dread curled in her stomach when Remus quietly sighed and closed his eyes.

"Oh no."

"PADFOOT! GET YOUR FIT ARSE OUT HERE!"

A head full of dark hair popped out of a compartment a ways down. "Do you really _have_ to shout about my arse? Didn't you do enough of that last night?"

"Not nearly enough, no," said James, waving him over. "Get over here, you twat."

"I'm getting mixed signals from you, Prongs," Sirius pouted as he loped down the corridor. "Or are you just trying to keep our illicit affair a secret?"

"There's nothing at all secret about it. Everyone could hear the two of you last night," Lily informed him promptly. "Reckon your Silencing Charm went awry. I could help you with that, you know."

Sirius arched an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I have a wand problem, Evans?"

"Well, Potter's wandwork certainly seemed satisfactory from what I heard, but I always imagined you to have the, ah, upper hand when it comes to dueling."

Sirius started laughing a few seconds before James, red in the face, shouted, "OI!"

"What are you bellowing about?" said Remus. "She just complimented your wandwork."

James ignored him and pinned Lily with an indignant stare. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent duelist."

She could have done it—the whole flirting bit. She really could have. She wanted to, but then she thought about how happy he'd looked at the thought of her playing Quidditch and worried he might actually combust with fanatical zeal if she flirted with him. Plus, Remus would nag her about it later and give her those damned knowing looks. All things considered, flirting with James Potter was just too big a risk.

So instead of saying, "The Prefect compartment is free if you'd like to demonstrate," she looked to Sirius and asked, "Is it true? Do James's dueling skills outweigh your own?"

In answer, Sirius slipped his arm around James's waist and said, "I taught him everything he knows, love. Natural dueler, this one. You should give it a go sometime; I'm not the jealous sort."

"_Padfoot_."

It was so quiet, Lily almost didn't catch it, but she saw the way James nudged Sirius in the ribs and moved just far enough away to break his hold.

Looking everywhere but at her, James said, "Enough about dueling. Go back to laser tag."

"Laser what now?"

Honestly, she should have known then what would happen, but no, of course not. She'd thought, naively, that after explaining a Muggle game to a pair of pure-bloods, they would go right back to discussing Quidditch and mischief-making and birds and whatever else they usually talked about (Lily wouldn't even pretend to know because, even though she'd found herself in their presence more often than not this past term, she'd had no idea _what_ they were on about half the time (Something about a cloak and a map?)). But it was James and Sirius and she really should have known better.

* * *

"Lily, sweetheart, someone's here to see you!"

A low groan escaped her, thinking it _must_ be Severus come to apologize _yet again_ when she was just so tired of hearing "I'm sorry" and "I didn't mean it" and wanting to never hear either of those phrases ever again.

Well, if it was Sev, she was going to firmly inform him that he was not welcome within her general proximity anymore—as if she hadn't already made that _abundantly clear_—and then make a cup of self-congratulatory hot chocolate for maintaining a firm stance on her No Severus Policy.

She stomped down the stairs in full, just-rolled-out-of-bed regalia, entirely unconcerned with what he would think of her outfit as she laid into him, going over what she planned to say to him in her head. As soon as the foyer was in view, she said, "I swear to God, this is _last time_ you show up at my door without getting hexed into a newt with sixteen legs!"

James, Remus, Sirius and Peter stood just inside the doorway, all gaping at her. Her cheeks flamed the moment she realized who they were, and that her mum was standing _right there_ with her hands on her hips and a series of wrinkles on her forehead that showed a whole century's worth of disappointment.

"We'll just leave then, yeah?" said Peter, grabbing onto the back of James's jacket—good God, since when did he wear leather?

"No!" she burst, dragging her attention away from the way James's jacket molded to his shoulders. "Sorry, I was—I mean, I wasn't expecting…you lot. Please, come in."

They all looked down and around at the foyer, then back to her. James lifted his brow. "Exactly how far in do we have to be to be considered 'in,' Evans? Do Muggles have different standards on visiting etiquette?"

"No, I meant—" Lily broke off into a sigh. "Mum, can you get them something to drink, please, while I go change?"

"Of course," said Mrs. Evans, forehead wrinkles now gone and replaced with a wide smile. "Come with me, boys, I'll see you into the kitchen."

Like ducklings, they followed her mum down the hallway. Lily grabbed Remus from the back of the line and pulled him aside. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Not my idea, I swear." He held his hands up in front of his chest. "We were bored and didn't know what to do, and when James asked if I knew where you lived, I said yes because I didn't think and—well, I didn't think."

"So showing up at my house unannounced was James's idea?"

"Egged on by Sirius, yes."

"How long d'you reckon they'll make fun of my pajamas?"

Remus gave her over-large, cat-plastered t-shirt a quick once-over. "At least three weeks."

"_Balls_." She released his arm and gave him a light shove. "Go. I'll be right down."

He pivoted as he stepped away and walked backwards while giving her a smirk worthy of Sirius Black. "You know, Lil, James rather likes cats."

Of course he did, probably as much as he liked dueling. Not that Lily was thinking about dueling with him again. "Shall I ask if he wants to borrow my pajamas?"

"Oh, he'd love that," laughed Remus. "And you know, he would probably wear them, too."

"He would," she sighed. "The prat."

It didn't take long, once Lily had managed to stop her mum from fussing over the boys and shooed her from the kitchen, for the reason of their visit to come out. James, seated across from her at the table, nursing a glass of water in one hand, leaned forward and tapped his fingertips along the top of the table.

"So, Evans, we—meaning, Sirius and I—were wondering—hoping, really—"

"If you really want my cat shirt, you can have it, Potter. You don't have to pretend you _and_ Sirius are lusting after it. Honestly, at least make the excuse believable."

His mouth hung open for a moment, and then he swallowed and regrouped. "Er, well, actually—and don't get me wrong, your shirt was magnificent—but this is about laser tag."

"Laser—what, you want to go laser tagging?" she laughed. "Oh, that'd be rich! Have you or Sirius ever even _seen_ a laser gun before? Do you know what guns _are_?"

"Well…no."

Sirius, seated beside James, leaned over into her direct line of sight. "But we're dead quick learners."

They both looked so eager, too, sitting there at her kitchen table with their mouths pulled into pouts, eyes pleading, so spectacularly unaware of what they were asking for. She knew she should have suggested popping over to the Leaky Cauldron to cure their boredom, or, hell, taking them to a video game arcade to ease them into the wonders of Muggle technology. But there was determination behind those pouts and bush baby eyes and she had tried to fight that determination before and come out the loser more often than not.

She looked to Remus and he shrugged, smiling sympathetically at her.

"_Fine_. You'll want to Transfigure your clothes before we go, though. Darker colors are better." She stood and stretched her arms over her head, fingers clasped. "Limber up as well, will you? I don't want annihilating you lot to be _too_ easy."

And the idiots took her seriously, too.

* * *

"No, no, you have to hit the ta—ARGH!"

The infrared lights on Lily's vest blinked two times and went dark.

"Damn it, Potter!"

His response was a crooked grin and an, "At least I hit the target this time."

Heaving a sigh, Lily stepped back into the recharging station to wait for her vest to light back up. James lounged in the entryway, leaning up against the wall with his left shoulder, one foot tucked behind the other. A half hour ago, he hadn't looked like the sort of bloke who could casually shoot his own team mate and make a joke about it. A half hour ago, he'd looked like a four year old on his first trip to Alton Towers.

"I've only one life left," she said, adjusting her grip on her laser gun. "Try not to cock it up, yeah?"

"It's sort of in my nature to cock up your life," he replied, and straightened up as her vest's target lights lit up. "But for the sake of the game, I'll repress my natural urges."

"Kind of you." She brushed past him, on high alert for the sound of footsteps, and muttered, "Twat."

James fell into step behind her, silent as a deer, damn him, and followed her up a carpeted ramp to the second level. "More fool you for choosing a twat to be your team mate," he whispered at her back.

"_I_ didn't choose you," she hissed, ducking under a low wall just in time to miss a shot from the other side of the arena.

"Well, no," said James, aiming a return shot. "But it was either you or Remus, and frankly, you're nicer to look at." A loud groan erupted from the other camp and James smirked. "And he's apparently shit at this game. All in all, I like my choice."

"Get _down_, you idiot! There's more of them than there are us!"

Pulling a face, he hunkered down beside her. "All right then, commander, what's our play?"

Lily peeked over the edge of the wall, but the other camp was dark and silent. Sirius and Peter could be anywhere in the arena and she was already down two lives. Their biggest threat was Sirius at this point; he had two of his three lives left, whereas Peter and Remus were both down two, thanks to James's last shot.

"We need to take out Peter and Remus," she said. "And then we'll ambush Sirius."

"Er, right, about that," he said, eyes focused somewhere above her left shoulder, "I don't think it's going to work."

Her brow pulled together. "Why not?"

James canted his head forward right as someone cleared their throat. Sirius loomed over them, laser gun aimed squarely at the target on Lily's chest.

"Oh. Right. Hallo, Sirius."

Sirius flashed her an unapologetic smile. "Sorry to do this, love."

"Me, too," she replied, raising her own gun and pulling the trigger.

* * *

"What is this music?" Sirius asked within moments of entering the laser tag arcade, scrunching his face into a scowl.

Lily, leading the way with Remus at her side, replied, "It's called disco and it's universally terrible."

"This is really what Muggles listen to?" He was at her elbow in an instant. "Do _you_ listen to this rubbish?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Knew I liked you," he stated. "Oi, Prongs, how do you feel about this disco nonsense?"

"Nonsense?" James repeated and shook his head. "Don't know what you're on about; this is my groove." To prove his point, he began dancing on Sirius.

Watching James Potter shake his hips in time with the music and rub up against his laughing best mate probably shouldn't have made her mouth run dry, but there she was with cotton mouth and the complete inability to tear her eyes away from his undulating hips.

Remus gently nudged her in the ribs with his elbow and cleared his throat. "We should put our names down."

"Right," she croaked. "Yeah, we should—we should do that."

The worst part was, James wasn't even _trying_ to get her attention or impress her or any of the other stupid stuff he usually did around her. Yes, he'd toned it down during the last few months of school, probably because he'd finally figured out she liked hanging out with them and wasn't going anywhere, but it was a habit of his to try and impress her. Like that one time he'd turned the Slytherin's tablecloths Gryffindor red. Or the time he'd made it snow from the ceiling in the Great Hall the day she'd found out about Petunia's engagement. The snowball/food fight that had ensued was entirely her own doing, though, thank you very much.

"Hot out there?" asked the attendant at the front desk, nodding toward her flushed face.

"Blistering," Remus answered while she floundered to find a response. "How long is the wait today?"

"Just ten minutes. There's a group in there right now, but almost all of 'em have been eliminated." The attendant put Lily's name down in a logbook. "We'll get you lot suited up and ready to go before they're out."

Lily thanked him and informed him that three of their group had never played before.

While she paid for the match and discussed a possible ten minute training session, Peter ambled over to tell Remus, in a low voice, "Padfoot and Prongs think there's a goblin the ATM. They're trying to talk to it. I think Padfoot might break it open if the goblin doesn't talk back soon."

Snorting in laughter and mumbling something about idiots, Remus rounded up the other boys and corralled them over to the front desk.

"I'll pay extra for the training, if you like," she offered. "Honestly, if I'm to end up with one of them on my team, I will cry if they don't have at least a little training. _Cry_. Tears, snot, red eyes—the whole shebang. It won't be pretty."

The crying threat worked on the attendant just as well as it worked on her dad, and after paying him an extra fiver, she and the boys were shuffled off to a small, rectangular room with black vests lining one wall and metal benches lining the other. She and Remus set to fitting the others with vests and, either by chance or on purpose, James's fitting was left to Lily.

"You'll want to take the jacket off," she said. "Gets bloody hot in there."

Lowering his voice and tugging at the cuffs, he said, "I was hoping you'd say that." He shucked off one arm and then the other. "Sirius forced me into it before we left. Thought I was going to get heatstroke."

Well. That was one mystery solved. Maybe she could actually function normally in his presence now that the jacket was off—

James, without looking away from her, tossed the abominable leather jacket aside in a perfect arc, and it landed in a heap on one of the benches. And, damn it, her mouth went dry again.

"What's next?" he asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "When do we get to use the guns?"

"Calm down, Jesse Jackson," she said, grabbing a vest off one of the hooks. "First you need this. When we're in the arena, the targets will light up, and if someone shoots one, you lose a life."

"Just one life?" he teased, taking the vest from her. He slipped it on and rolled his shoulders a couple times. "Well, it's a good thing I've got so many lives stored up. So long as I don't lose _all_ of them, I suppose I'll be all right."

She watched him fumble with the buckles for a moment before stepping forward and knocking his hands away to do them up herself. "That's the point, Potter. You get three lives, and once you lose all three, you're eliminated and can't play anymore."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Muggles are weird."

"Wait until you play Space Invaders."

"Are there laser guns in that, too?"

Lily grinned up at him. "There's a laser _cannon_ in it."

"I take it back," he said, mirroring her grin. "Muggles are brilliant."

Of course, he forgot all about Muggles and arcade games the second a laser gun was put in his hands. The attendant looked like he didn't quite know what to do with Sirius and James when they started poking and prodding at the guns, turning them this way and that, until one of them (Sirius, she thought, though she couldn't be sure) stumbled upon the trigger and fired, shooting a dot of red light at the attendant's face.

Silence fell over the room, Remus and Lily covering their faces in horror, and James and Sirius staring open-mouthed at the attendant's forehead. Peter shattered the silence with a strained giggle.

"Do it again, _do it again_!" James cheered, waving his gun and hitting Sirius's shoulder with the butt of it.

The attendant, however, was having none of it. He grabbed the barrels of both their guns and held them still. "That's enough. You'll have plenty of time to shoot at each other once you're in the arena. First, we need to go over some safety rules. Now, rule number one…"

Lily saw the very moment James stopped listening. He wasn't obvious about it; his eyes were trained on the attendant, mouth set in a firm line, and he even nodded every so often, but this was James, and what were rules to James Potter? He may have looked like he was listening, but there was no focus behind his gaze and his fingers were beating a staccato rhythm along the barrel of his gun. But the true giveaway was the space of three seconds after the attendant had stopped talking in which James didn't immediately jump back into action.

Their guns were released with a furtive look from the attendant, and by some miracle the two of them managed to repress the urge to shoot anything and everything around them.

"You'll be playing with two teams; one of them will be short a person, but that could be an advantage if you play your cards right." The attendant looked between James, Sirius and Peter. "I'd suggest putting the new players on teams with experienced players."

James raised his gun into the air and shouted, "I'm with Lily!"

"Aww, sod you!" whined Sirius, smacking the flat of his gun against James's stomach. "_I_ wanted Lily!"

"Well, you can't have her," James countered and stuck out his tongue.

Crossing to the door, the attendant sent Lily a pitying glance and said, "You have ten minutes to practice. We'll page you over the PA system when the match begins."

"Cheers," said James, saluting the attendant with his gun and rushing past him through the open door, followed by Sirius. Peter stumbled over his own feet to catch up with them and Lily and Remus shared a sigh before following them in.

The arena was set up like an obstacle course with the ground floor divided into two sections by half-walls, the larger spaces dotted with tall, circular foam barriers the size and weight of punching bags. Each section contained a recharging station, hexagonal and covered on all sides from enemy fire, and on each side of the arena was a ramp that led to a second floor made up completely of half-wall mazes. Climbing over the walls was discouraged, not only for safety reasons but also because it was too easy to shoot an opponent when he was struggling to get over a wall. Lily had learned that lesson in a game of capture the flag with her dad two summers beforehand.

"We'll take the left," said Remus, cocking his head to the side.

Lily nodded and grabbed the back of James's vest. "Come on, Potter, I've only got ten minutes to show you how to shoot a gun."

His Quidditch background helped with his aim and his hold on the gun, but for some reason, he couldn't grasp pulling the trigger to fire.

"Pointing it at someone isn't going to do a thing," said Lily, trying to stay as patient as she could. "You _have_ to pull the trigger. This isn't magic; nonverbal spells will not make your gun fire."

James wasn't really listening, though. He was too busy ducking and rolling around on the floor and pretending to shoot invisible invaders to heed her coaching.

"Potter. Potter!" Lily pointed her gun at him and fired off a shot that hit him square in the shoulder target. He _still_ didn't stop barrel rolling on the ground. "_James_."

That got him. He pushed himself off the ground, jumped up and brushed off the front his jeans. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"OI, PRONGS, LOOK OUT!"

He spun on his heel and got shot in the forehead with a laser. Sirius howled with laughter until James fired off a return shot that got him on the chin. Giggling like madmen, the two chased each other around the ground floor, shooting each other in the face at every opportunity.

"Don't aim for the eyes!" she called after them.

At least James had figured out the trigger, Lily thought.

* * *

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Sirius bellowed as his target lights blinked twice. "How did you—? Are you—? MERLIN'S BALLS!"

Lily wiggled her fingers at him, beaming widely. "Bye-bye, Black!"

Muttering mutinously, Sirius stomped off into the maze.

"Well, that makes things easier," said Lily, turning her head. "I—what?"

James was staring at her, an inscrutable look on his face, and he shook his head. "You shake mountains when you dance, don't you?"

"What?"

His expression cleared and a smile hitched up the corners of his lips. "Let's go ambush Remus now, yeah?"

Peter was still somewhere in the arena, probably hiding out until Sirius and Remus were back in action, so she kept an eye out for him while she followed James through the maze. They were crouching as they walked and Lily had to wonder how James was so good at being stealthy in such a position. She'd already attributed his ability to sneak around with his trouble-making ways and, honestly, she hadn't thought about the advantages of having a trouble-maker on her team before James had hijacked it.

They were crossing into enemy territory, moving as quickly as they dared through the maze, silent as Lethifolds. They reached the other end of the maze without encountering any of the other boys and James paused at the top of the ramp. He dropped into a squat and pulled Lily down with him.

"They're probably waiting to ambush us at the bottom," he whispered, his face close enough to hers for her to feel his breath on her lips. "I'll take Pete and you worry about Remus. Once they're out of the way, we can take out Sirius together."

"Are you going first?"

He nodded and she could have kissed him for taking the game as seriously as she did. She didn't, though. Wrong time, wrong place. But maybe later, if they actually managed to win this game, if they had some sort of celebration…

Lily gave herself a mental shake and nudged James. "Let's do this."

James rose to a half-crouch and slipped soundlessly down the ramp and to the right, out of her view. She took a deep, steadying breath and followed after him, swinging to the left at the bottom of the ramp. None of them were in their recharging station, so she paused by it and studied the field of foam cylinders between their side and hers. Somewhere out there were four boys and three of them were after her.

She crept forward, ducking from one cylinder to another until she caught a flash of red coming from someone's else's vest. She pulled up her gun, finger on the trigger, and stopped herself from firing just in time to realize it was James.

He maneuvered his way over to her and stopped with his back against the pillar next to hers. "Any sign of them?"

"They might be at our base."

"Damn." He peered around the edge. "Going in. Cover me."

She followed a few moves behind him, watching for movement or target lights that weren't coming from her and James and worrying when she found none. James waited for her on their side of the arena, hunkered down against the wall lining their ramp.

"If Remus knows anything about strategy, he'll have them all guarding our base," Lily murmured to him. "If we can't recharge, we're fucked."

"And it's the only place in this arena where we can't get hit," he added, scowling.

It was too quiet in the arena. Usually when Lily played, there were at least a dozen people playing with her and it was never, _ever_ quiet. She should have known better that it would be different playing with four boys whose legacy was built upon impossible acts of mischief and sneaking around an old castle in the dead of night. They knew how to be quiet.

James tapped her wrist. "Go back to their base," he said in a low voice. "I'll draw them out and you take whichever of them are left."

She stared at him. "You're _sacrificing_ yourself?"

Smirking that damnable smirk, James set his gun down at his feet and placed his hands on her cheeks. "I believe in you, soldier. Make your country proud." Then he smacked a kiss to her forehead, shoved her back into the forest of foam, grabbed his gun, and vaulted himself over the wall, calling out, "COME AND GET ME, YOU YELLOW-BELLIED TWATS!"

Lily was only halfway across the arena when she heard James whoop while Peter swore at him. She'd made it another five steps before James groaned loudly and yelled out, "MOONY, YOU CHEATER! I'VE BEEN HIT! YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, EVANS!"

Tossing aside caution, Lily ran full-out to the enemy base and back up the ramp. She dropped to the floor where she and James had stopped before and caught her breath.

All right. She was on her own against Remus and Sirius. One of them was hunting her now, most likely. After all, she was just one target and they had the advantage of owning the arena. They would probably leave one person to guard her base while the other ferreted her out. And that was just fine. Lily had faced worse situations before, and those had had marginally more dire outcomes than a game of harmless laser tag.

Her position was strategically chosen; she could see in almost all directions, including down to the first floor, so she would know if one of them was near. All she had to do was wait and attack first.

It didn't take long. Apparently, not all the Marauders were as stealthy as James; either that or they just didn't care about being careful anymore. She heard the gentle tread of footsteps on carpet before she saw the faint red glow of the targets on his vest.

Lily held her breath and leveled her gun. Remus rounded the corner of the maze, eyes scanning for her, finger on the trigger. Their gazes met and held for one second, two…

He shot first, but she dodged at the last possible moment and aimed a shot for his left shoulder target. It struck dead center and then it was just her against Sirius.

She took a page from James's book and vaulted over the walls of the maze, not caring if she fell or got stuck. Sirius wouldn't know he was the last one left—Remus hadn't made a single sound after being hit and she hadn't stayed around long enough to prompt one out of him. When she reached the other end of the maze, she ran down the ramp and around toward her base. First, she saw James and Peter sitting on the ground with their backs against the wall and their guns in their laps, holding a whispered conversation. And as she'd suspected, that's where Sirius was, too, standing right outside the entrance to her base looking immensely bored.

Well, she thought to herself, that was about to change.

"Oi, Black!" she said, stopping in the middle of the corridor. "Catch me if you can!"

She took a moment to appreciate how wide their eyes got and then she was off, into the field of foam blockades, the pounding of feet behind her almost matching the cadence of her heart.

A tiny red dot of light appeared on the cylinder next to her and she ducked to the right, dodging shots and foam rounds with a zigzagging pattern. After a couple minutes, the sound of Sirius's footsteps petered out and she paused behind a pillar, gasping for breath.

"Are you a Gryffindor or not!" he called out. "Come out and face me!"

He had a point, of course, but this was laser tag and she was not about to give up her one advantage over him: he had no idea where she was, but thanks to his shouting, she knew exactly where he was.

She heard him growl as she sneaked through the field to come up behind him. He was standing open in the middle of the field, scanning the darkness for her, and she waited, patiently, for him to look away before moving to the next cylinder.

"Come _on_, Evans!"

Smirking, she stuck the barrel of her gun in between his shoulder blades. "You rang?"

Whirling, he fired off a shot, but it went wide. She darted behind a nearby cylinder anyway and reached around it to fire back. Sirius yelped and hid on the other side.

"What was that you were saying about Gryffindors?" she asked.

"Sod off!"

Laughing, she crept out from behind her barricade and sent off a shot between his cylinder and the one beside it. He rounded it from the other side and fired off one, two, three shots in a row, and Lily dropped to the floor and rolled over her shoulder to avoid them all. Propped on one knee, Lily aimed for the target on his stomach and fired. Her shot hit him mere moments before his hit her.

His targets blinked three times and went dark. Gasping, Sirius stumbled backwards, one hand clutching his stomach. He dropped his gun and fell to his knees, staring down at himself as if she had actually shot him. Raising his head, he looked at her and whispered, "Tell…my mother…" He took a dramatic, wheezing breath and gave an affected cough. "Tell her…she's a cunt and I'll see her in hell."

With that, he fell forward, sprawled out spread-eagle on the floor.

Lily rose to her feet, laser gun dangling limply from her fingers.

She'd done it. She'd won. Against all odds, she'd won.

A loud, triumphant whoop went up from behind her and she turned just in time to see James rushing at her. He grabbed her up in his arms and twirled her around, shouting for all the world to hear that she was his hero. When he set her back down, there was a moment, the space of a breath, in that their smiling mouths were close enough to breathe each other's exhalations, and Lily thought—hoped, really—that he was going to kiss her. If there was ever an opportune moment, this was it, and if he didn't take it, _she_ would.

But when she lifted up on tip-toes to close the gap between their lips, to find out just how well her mouth fit with his, he wasn't there anymore. Instead, he was helping Sirius to his feet and teasing him for his terrible acting, and Lily suddenly felt like crying.

"Hey, Lily," said James, turning back to her. She buried her disappointment with how much she enjoyed hearing her name on his tongue and managed a smile for him.

"Yes, James?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

Her heart rate spiked. Was that his play? Was he going to ask her out properly before kissing her? Knowing James, it would make sense that he would want to do the proper thing, especially since there was no way of him knowing that she fancied him.

"Sleeping until my mum swears at me to get me out of bed, but other than that, nothing," she replied. "Why?"

Remus was wending his way through the field toward them as James said, "Can we all play again tomorrow?"

And it was only Remus, judging by the way his brow puckered, who noticed that her smile wasn't genuine when she answered, "Maybe."

Peter joined them, congratulating Lily on her win and Sirius on his death, and started for the exit. Sirius followed him, thanking him for recognizing theatrical _brilliance_ when he saw it, unlike _someone_ they knew.

James just snorted and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Whatever, mate, you're just jealous that Lily's a better badass than you." He turned his head toward her, eyes crinkling with the force of his smile, making her stomach perform acrobatics of an Olympian degree. "You _are_ a complete and total badass, you know. Feel free to wear the leather jacket. You've earned it."

"We should get matching ones," she answered, bumping his side with her elbow. "I didn't do it all alone."

"Matching jackets," he mused, lips pulled to one side. "I could get behind that."

"Maybe not this summer, though. Hot as Merlin's balls out there."

"Noted." He squeezed her shoulders and grinned. "Now I know what to get you for Christmas."

Remus, Sirius and Peter were already out of their vests and divested of their guns by the time Lily and James joined them.

"You don't have to wait for us," said Lily, handing off her gun and undoing the buckles on her own vest. "We'll meet you in the lobby."

Remus dawdled, trying to communicate his concern through a series of looks, until she silently shooed him and gave a non-subtle glance at James, who was struggling with his vest.

"Here, let me—"

"Ah, cheers," he said as the last buckle came loose. He hung his vest up next to hers and picked up the leather jacket from the bench and held it in his hands, wringing it between his fingers. "Hey, Lily, thanks for taking us here. Next time, we'll ask ahead of time before showing up at your front door."

"You promise?"

"Marauder's honor," he replied.

"Good." She grabbed his arm and drew it around her shoulders again. "And while we're talking about it, I have a condition about tomorrow."

He was quiet for a moment, but she didn't dare look up at him now, not when she thought her insides might burst open with nerves and butterflies and pins and needles and whatever else was clanging around inside her right then.

"What's that?"

She found her steel and tilted her face up toward his. "Take me to dinner first."

There was a new softness to the way James looked at her, his eyes shining a little brighter behind his specs, and the set of his mouth no longer cocky but quietly, privately pleased and maybe even a little hopeful.

"I can get behind that as well."

"And maybe we don't invite the lads to go with us?"

He chuckled and pressed a lingering kiss to the crown of her head. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Well, I imagine your dreams generally don't include your mates joining you on first dates."

"You'd be surprised," he replied dryly, guiding her out of the dim rectangular room to the brightly-lit lobby. His cheeks were flushed, more so than she'd realized, and knew hers probably matched. "I've had a number of nightmares in which Sirius shows up mid-date and either steals you or attempts to convince you I'm actually in love with him."

"Well," she said fairly, "I already know you're in love with him. And, honestly, I just don't see the appeal. His hair is just too…" She flapped a hand toward it. "Neat."

"And it _stays that way_ no matter how much you muss it up!" he said, eyes widening. "I swear he's got a charm on it or _something_, because it's just not natural!"

Lily laughed and leaned into his side as they crossed the lobby. Remus kept shooting sidelong glances their way in between furtive looks at Sirius and Peter, who kept trying to look over at her and James, only to be stepped on by Remus.

His tact left something to be desired, but she didn't expect him to have the most refined stealth techniques.

Which reminded her…

"It was E. E. Cummings," she said, looking up at James. "What you quoted at me earlier."

James slanted a look at her. "Maybe."

"Do you not give a fuck for luck?"

His lips quirked up. "Reckon you don't either, Evans."

"No," Lily answered, slipping her arm around his waist. "I rather don't."

* * *

AN: Couple things to add here: 1. Kristina is fabulous and I would still be faffing about with this story if it weren't for her, so you should all go give her some love and attention because she has more than earned it! (cgner here on ffn!) 2. The poem Lily and James reference is called 'the boys i mean are not refined' by E. E. Cummings. It's lovely. And by lovely I mean inappropriate as hell. It also _totally_ describes how the Marauders probably felt about themselves. 3. This entire story is based off a tumblr post asking for AUs that weren't coffee shops and colleges. So I, like any other sane person, wrote a laser tag AU and stuck my OTP into it.

Thank you so much for reading!


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